Miami's Village West neighborhood Revitalization

In this photo taken July 1, 2013, a woman walks up a stairway of an apartment building decorated with a mural on Grand Avenue in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community, settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, was the first black settlement in South Florida. It has suffered from many years of decline and lack of investment. This building is among six blocks of Grand Avenue which are part of a $306 million redevelopment plan proposed by Point Group Advisors to build retail, office, and residential space. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Sunday, July 7, 2013 photo, Bobbie Mickens, left, Cheryl Belford, center, and Inez Daniels, right, sing during a service at the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1895, in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community, settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, was the first black settlement in South Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this photo taken Thursday, August 8, 2013, a replica of a home built by Mariah Brown and her husband is fenced in and covered by weeds on Charles Avenue in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Brown is believed to have been the first black Bahamian to build a home when Bahamian immigrants arrived in South Florida in the 1880's. The neighborhood is suffering from many years of decline and lack of investment.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this photo taken Saturday, July 6, 2013, a mural promoting the Bahamian heritage of the the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami, is shown on the outside wall of a grocery store. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, but has suffered from many years of decline and lack of investment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this photo dated 1890 provided by HistoryMiami, Bahamian immigrants stand on the property of the Peacock Inn in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. When the first black residents of South Florida arrived in the 1880s from the Bahamas to work at the Peacock Inn on Biscayne Bay, they established the Village West neighborhood in Miami's Coconut Grove section. (AP Photo/HistoryMiami)

In this photo taken Wednesday, July 10, 2013, Walt Daniels, 66, sits in his tailoring shop at Mr. Walt's Full Service, which offers haircuts, alterations and shoe repairs in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Daniels has been a businessman in the neighborhood for 46 years, and has seen the area suffer from many years of decline and lack of investment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Wednesday, July 10, 2013 photo, Jihad Rashid, president and CEO of the Coconut Grove Collaborative, shows a rendering of a planned complex of affordable housing and commercial space slated for this empty lot along Grand Avenue in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, making this the first black settlement in South Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this photo taken Monday, July 8, 2013, Thelma Gibson, 86, stands in the doorway of her home in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Gibson's grandfather was among the Bahamian immigrants who settled in the area in the 1880's. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Wednesday, July 31, 2013 photo, Cheryl Ogletree, 48, sits for a photograph with her granddaughter, Jadah Williams, 9, at their home in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Ogletree has owned her home since 1995, but is struggling to hold on, saying the area is no longer affordable. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This Saturday, July 6, 2013 photo shows a sculpture of bird dressed as a Bahamian police officer in the heart of the business district in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This Saturday, July 6, 2013 photo shows graves in the historic Coconut Grove Cemetery in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami with the remains of early Bahamian settlers. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Tuesday, July 2, 2013 photo, Carrie Jackson packs freshly baked cookies at her business, the Original Cookie Lady, in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Jackson has been in business since 1982, but has seen the neighborhood suffer from decline and lack of investment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Tuesday, July 30, 2013 photo, Leroy Robinson, 76, looks back while playing dominoes at the Billy Rolle Domino Park in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Robinson's family immigrated from the Bahamas in the 1880's to this community - the first black settlement in South Florida. Robinson recalls when the area was thriving with locally owned businesses, but it now suffers from years of decline and a lack of investment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This Wednesday, July 31, 2013 photo shows shuttered, vacant storefronts along Grand Avenue in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The neighborhood thrived in the early 1900s with many black-owned businesses and single-family homes. But after World War II ended, many of the homes were torn town and replaced with large apartment buildings. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013 photo, Anthony Vinciguerra, 39, stands on the porch of his restored shotgun home in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Wednesday, July 10, 2013 photo, Jennifer Puig, right, dances with A' Riyannah Scott, 7, during a summer camp program at the Barnyard Community Center in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The Barnyard is part of the non-profit organization Coconut Grove Cares, offering after school and summer camp programs. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Tuesday, July 30, 2013 photo, men play dominoes at the Billy Rolle Domino Park in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, making this the first black settlement in South Florida. It now suffers from years of decline and a lack of investment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013 photo, James Poitier, 98, relaxes on the front porch of his home where he has lived since 1926, in the Village West neighborhood of Coconut Grove in Miami. Poitier's family immigrated from the Bahamas. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 photo shows a model of Grove Village proposed by Pointe Group Advisors for the Coconut Grove neighborhood in Miami. The project is a $306 million plan for the Village West neighborhood, which calls for retail, commercial and residential space with Bahamian style architecture along the main business district of Grand Avenue. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, making it the first black settlement in South Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In this photo dated 1890 provided by HistoryMiami, Bahamian immigrants stand outside the Barnacle boathouse in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. The community was settled by Bahamian immigrants in the 1880's, making it the first black settlement in South Florida. (AP Photo/HistoryMiami)